M4E #3: Types of Plant Layout
One of the basis of any manufacturing business is the plant layout: the way assets (equipment, people, materials) are physically arranged inside a shopfloor. Today we are going to see one video from Invest Northern Ireland that explains in a really short time the 4 main types of plant layouts.
Time for Insights
Process layouts are a good option for custom jobs with low or medium rates of production. That is why workshops have typically this kind of layout.
Line layouts are thought for normalized products and high production rates (e.g. car manufacturing). They are tailored for reducing processing time although they have problems to accomodate variability in the demand.
Although manufacturing cells started to become popular in the 80s and were already implanted in Japan in the 70s, its principles were devised in 1925 by Flanders and 1933 by Mitrofanov as a derivative of group technology.
The static layout is also called fixed position layout. As told in the video, it’s commonly related to the manufacturing of a big product such as a ship or a plane. Materials, people and operations flow around a central frame.
Typically, in a real factory you will find a combination of all these types of layout.